Hyderabad Rains: KCR Blamed For "Calamity"

Leader Of Opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir today held Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao responsible for the lack of relief and rescue works in the areas affected by rains, and blamed him for the degraded condition of the city.

Addressing a press conference along with Congress leader Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy on Friday, Shabbir Ali said that the State government was not prepared to deal with disasters.

"No measures to prevent the breach of small tanks and the stagnation of rain water have been taken yet. People living in the low-lying areas are yet to be evacuated. The government has not even established any relief camps. It also has failed to provide food or drinking water to the affected," he said.

Shabbir Ali slammed KCR for being absent during the "calamity".

"KCR sits comfortably in New Delhi while Hyderabad faces the harshest weather in over a decade. He cares only about his political career. He ought to be ashamed of himself for his insensitivity towards a tragedy. He should have returned to Hyderabad as soon as he learned of its condition, given that he heads the Telangana Disaster Management Authority," he alleged.

He said that the decision to bring in the Army, RAF and para-military forces to carry out relief and rescue operations would require the presence of the Chief Minister.

Speaking on the "crumbling" roads and infrastructure of the city, he said that almost all roadways had been damaged, and looked like they had been bombarded with heavy artillery.

He also slammed some of the senior government officials for playing a blame game to avoid taking responsibility for the disaster.

Reacting to minister K T Rama Rao's allegation that the previous Congress regime was responsible for the dilapidated infrastructure of the city, Shabbir Ali said, "You have been in power for the last two-and-a-half years. Where is your Monsoon Action Plan? What happened to your 100 Days Action Plan for the GHMC that you promised? Instead of apologizing for the empty promises, you are trying to shift the blame on the Congress, who, by the way, are not in power. You ought to resign from your post and let someone else handle the situation."

Shabbir Ali also asked why the State government did not demolish the various illegal and decrepit structures in the city yet, and pointed out that such buildings could prove fatal for their inhabitants in this weather.

Other Congress leaders also weighed in and said that Hyderabad was now vulnerable to the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya. They said that some of these diseases had already been reported in some hospitals.

Shabbir Ali appealed to the Congress cadre and some NGOs to extend all possible help to the affected.